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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Bluestocking: To the moon and back gerbil style.

1000 replies

Boiledbeetle · 02/04/2026 17:29

Previous thread of chat and general madness below

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5506124-the-bluestocking-womens-pub-spring-is-sprunging-and-mns-name-generator-can-do-one

Women: from an orderly queue at the bar or take a seat and grab a passing gerbil.

Men: turn left at the end of the road, keep walking until you find the Staunch Ally.

Bar gerbil a full fat coke please and a packet of Scampi Fries please.

The Bluestocking women's Pub- spring is sprunging and MN's name generator can do one! | Mumsnet

Welcome to the Bluestocking women's pub. Men are directed to the Staunch Ally just down the road. Otherwise all are welcome. Pull up a chair, give you...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5506124-the-bluestocking-womens-pub-spring-is-sprunging-and-mns-name-generator-can-do-one

OP posts:
Thread gallery
130
ifIwerenotanandroid · 08/04/2026 00:47

OK, so I've managed to squeeze a few more people in, though the AI refuses to put a tractor in a blazer. That's Deano in an elderberry-inspired dress, & Edith, you're the knitting woman top left. Everyone else should be obvious.

ETA: Just noticed Marie's gone now. Maye she's changing into her punk persona.

The Bluestocking: To the moon and back gerbil style.
WearyAuldWumman · 08/04/2026 01:04

Blue velvet blazers for all? I approve.

FarriersGirl · 08/04/2026 06:23

On the topic of velvet jackets - I bought one in Uzbekistan last year for the stitching as much as anything.

ChristmasStars · 08/04/2026 07:07

ifIwerenotanandroid · 08/04/2026 00:30

That's not a cake, that's Cake!

😮 You're so right! What was I thinking? Obsessing about cake and missing Cake!

EdithStourton · 08/04/2026 07:27

ifIwerenotanandroid · 08/04/2026 00:22

Edith, how would you like to be portrayed by the AI?

Ooh...
The actual Edith S died in 1441, so period clothing would be lovely, complete with sleek hair (such as I do not have).

But if that causes confusion with Marie, you could always go for jeans, jumper and wellies, and a canine familiar or two.

I should learn to use AI myself, really, but I'm shying away from anything complex on the laptop as I've got to get to grips with Making Tax Digital in the near future.

EdithStourton · 08/04/2026 07:29

ifIwerenotanandroid · 08/04/2026 00:47

OK, so I've managed to squeeze a few more people in, though the AI refuses to put a tractor in a blazer. That's Deano in an elderberry-inspired dress, & Edith, you're the knitting woman top left. Everyone else should be obvious.

ETA: Just noticed Marie's gone now. Maye she's changing into her punk persona.

Edited

Love Colin in his blue jacket ❤

DeanElderberry · 08/04/2026 07:52

The tractors here are all in the cities or on the motorways.
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0408/1567128-fuel-protests/

Yesterday they were getting lots of public sympathy. I suspect that will wear thin.

But there was good new for one parrot and her man at Dublin airport.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0407/1567103-lola-parrot-dublin-airport/

Lost parrot reunited with owner after Dublin Airport stay

A parrot found in a car park at Dublin Airport over the weekend has been reunited with its owner.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0407/1567103-lola-parrot-dublin-airport/

ShinyBlueTractor · 08/04/2026 09:29

Good parrot news is what I come here for!

Loved the singers in their blue jackets, so smart!

MarieDeGournay · 08/04/2026 09:51

ETA: Just noticed Marie's gone now. Maye she's changing into her punk persona.
No, I had just nipped back to the shop to exchange my blue velvet jacket for one with lapels. I like lapels. Everybody else had lapels. AI did not give me lapels😭

FarriersGirl - I can relate to buying something for the stitching - I often admire clothes I'd never buy/wear in a million years because of the quality of the cut or the stitching or how well finished the seams are - I still remember seeing a cheap jacket in Penneys [Primark] some years ago that was exquisitely cut and sewn, the pocket flaps perfectly flat, the lapels neat and even - honestly, you'd be happy if you got it from Savile Row!
It made me wonder how such high-level skills had made their way into the 'fast fashion' manufacturing process, presumably in China or Indonesia or somewhere..

..as in rough earth a Grecian vase'

ShinyBlueTractor - shouldn't that be ShinyBlueVelvetTractorGrin

MarieDeGournay · 08/04/2026 10:05

I followed the lost-and-found parrot at Dublin Zoo story too, Deano, and noted its misgendering. I hear that although she is actually called Lola, she has now been given the middle name 'Troy'😃

There's the makings of a children's book and TV programme there - Lola the Parrot gets lost in an airport and is helped by Jimmy the Guard Dog....

For the baffled: Troy Parrott is the name of the current rising young star of Irish soccer, as we call football, 'football' = Gaelic football. He also plays for Dutch team AZ Alkmaar
To be honest, to call anybody 'the rising young star of Irish soccer' is damning with faint praise, because we are hopeless at it these days, didn't make it to the World Cup😒
But the team played bravely in the last game and Troy scored a last minute wondergoal so sure lookit it's grand🙂

DeanElderberry · 08/04/2026 10:19

I love the way they say she was identified by her number and by the way she reacted when they used her name. I got the sense they'd have quite liked having her around for longer.

EdithStourton · 08/04/2026 10:25

Magpiecomplex · 07/04/2026 20:06

Speaking of socks, as we were. This came up on LinkedIn. How magnificently nerdy - socks knitted to match soil horizons!

Just catching up o a bit of the thread I realised I'd missed (I was a bit out of it from lack of sleep yesterday).

Love these. I have a friend who would appreciate a pair... I need to do some research. It takes me ages to knit socks. They're one of my 'small projects', and get entirely ignored when a 'big project' (jumper) is on the needles, unless I have a long journey somewhere.

MyrtleLion · 08/04/2026 10:34

I am looking for a simple short row sock pattern rather than a gusset and heel but they all look really difficult. I knitted the Christmas stockings very easily and quickly but I don't think they're suitable for everyday sock wear.

MarieDeGournay · 08/04/2026 10:36

EdithStourton · 08/04/2026 10:25

Just catching up o a bit of the thread I realised I'd missed (I was a bit out of it from lack of sleep yesterday).

Love these. I have a friend who would appreciate a pair... I need to do some research. It takes me ages to knit socks. They're one of my 'small projects', and get entirely ignored when a 'big project' (jumper) is on the needles, unless I have a long journey somewhere.

Hope you're more rested today, Edith.

I'm thinking of all your lovely descriptions of the land around you, and it occurs to me that you could do seasonal socks - sometimes they would be mostly brown, sometimes mostly green, etc. depending on what was growing in the fields at time of knittingSmile
That reminds me of a poem we learnt at school, which I absolutely loved then and still do.
It's by the Irish poet Joseph Campbell. [late 19th/early20th]

I will go with my father a-ploughing

I will go with my father a-ploughing
To the green field by the sea,
And the rooks and the crows and the seagulls
Will come flocking after me.
I will sing to the patient horses
With the lark in the shine of the air,
And my father will sing the plough-song
That blesses the cleaving share.

I will go with my father a-sowing
To the red field by the sea,
And the rooks and the gulls and the starlings
Will come flocking after me.
I will sing to the striding sowers
With the finch on the flow'ring sloe,
And my father will sing the seed-song
That only the wise men know.

I will go with my father a-reaping
To the brown field by the sea,
And the geese and the crows and the children
Will come flocking after me.
I will sing to the weary reapers
With the wren in the heat of the sun,
And my father will sing the scythe song
That joys for the harvest done.

Magpiecomplex · 08/04/2026 10:55

I love the idea of seasonal socks, Marie. We were out and about over the weekend and I spotted so many different shades of yellow: primroses, cowslips, gorse, rape, dandelions and the occasional forsythia. A perfect spring sock, coupled with the acid green of willows just coming into leaf and the slightly darker green of hawthorn, and sprinkled with bright white blackthorn blossom.

EdithStourton · 08/04/2026 11:02

MarieDeGournay · 08/04/2026 10:36

Hope you're more rested today, Edith.

I'm thinking of all your lovely descriptions of the land around you, and it occurs to me that you could do seasonal socks - sometimes they would be mostly brown, sometimes mostly green, etc. depending on what was growing in the fields at time of knittingSmile
That reminds me of a poem we learnt at school, which I absolutely loved then and still do.
It's by the Irish poet Joseph Campbell. [late 19th/early20th]

I will go with my father a-ploughing

I will go with my father a-ploughing
To the green field by the sea,
And the rooks and the crows and the seagulls
Will come flocking after me.
I will sing to the patient horses
With the lark in the shine of the air,
And my father will sing the plough-song
That blesses the cleaving share.

I will go with my father a-sowing
To the red field by the sea,
And the rooks and the gulls and the starlings
Will come flocking after me.
I will sing to the striding sowers
With the finch on the flow'ring sloe,
And my father will sing the seed-song
That only the wise men know.

I will go with my father a-reaping
To the brown field by the sea,
And the geese and the crows and the children
Will come flocking after me.
I will sing to the weary reapers
With the wren in the heat of the sun,
And my father will sing the scythe song
That joys for the harvest done.

That is a fabulous idea, Marie - and I love the poem. I've copied it onto my laptop.

I'm having a break from proof-reading. Top tip: if you're going to write an article, make it internally consistent, for the love of God.

Magpiecomplex · 08/04/2026 11:04

I don't think Gemini understands what's actually possible when knitting socks, but they are very pretty!

The Bluestocking: To the moon and back gerbil style.
MarieDeGournay · 08/04/2026 11:12

Magpiecomplex · 08/04/2026 10:55

I love the idea of seasonal socks, Marie. We were out and about over the weekend and I spotted so many different shades of yellow: primroses, cowslips, gorse, rape, dandelions and the occasional forsythia. A perfect spring sock, coupled with the acid green of willows just coming into leaf and the slightly darker green of hawthorn, and sprinkled with bright white blackthorn blossom.

Hey I think I invented something! before 11a.m.! on just one cup of tea!😄
I hope some of you knitters have fun with the idea.Smile

On relflection that's what Donegal tweed is - probably other tweeds as well but I'm most familiar with the inspiration for Donegal tweed being the environment - the brown bogland, the patches of green, the occasional white bog-cotton, the blue of a lake in the sun, the green of rushes and grasses, the pinks and yellows of flowers...

The Bluestocking: To the moon and back gerbil style.
DeanElderberry · 08/04/2026 11:18

ifIwerenotanandroid · 08/04/2026 00:47

OK, so I've managed to squeeze a few more people in, though the AI refuses to put a tractor in a blazer. That's Deano in an elderberry-inspired dress, & Edith, you're the knitting woman top left. Everyone else should be obvious.

ETA: Just noticed Marie's gone now. Maye she's changing into her punk persona.

Edited

meeeee!

beside a cat. of course.

MarieDeGournay · 08/04/2026 11:19

Glad you liked that poem so much, Edith, it is a delight isn't it?
It's one of the school poems I try to recall if I'm waiting for a delayed train or something like that - it's quite tricky to remember all the combinations of fields/colours/scavengers in the right order, and there's always at least one bit I get wrong! So it's back to the beginning, and that passes the time until the train pulls in...Smile

EdithStourton · 08/04/2026 12:43

Magpiecomplex · 08/04/2026 11:04

I don't think Gemini understands what's actually possible when knitting socks, but they are very pretty!

I'd totally wear those, but someone needs to explain to Gemini about needle size.

Marie, that poem is definitely one to learn by heart.

I wish I could record the birdsong in my garden for you all. Sparrows chirping, robins singing, a goldfinch going for it hammer and tongs, a blackbird chupping, possibly because B&B are sunbathing on the lawn, a woodie cooing, now and then a squawking from a distant pheasant...

lcakethereforeIam · 08/04/2026 14:13

Looks like I caught up just in time to avoid being eaten!

I've been knitting. The badger one...I've never knitted multicoloured and I didn't realise how complicated it would be. I found a website that converts pictures into knitting patterns.

They are the Hufflepuff badger (I think), a badger and a musical note of some description.

Just need to tidy up the ends and I'll get them off to Woolley Hugs. Hopefully tomorrow.

The Bluestocking: To the moon and back gerbil style.
lcakethereforeIam · 08/04/2026 14:18

This is the back of the badger one.😱

The Bluestocking: To the moon and back gerbil style.
EmpressaurusKitty · 08/04/2026 14:19

lcakethereforeIam · 08/04/2026 14:13

Looks like I caught up just in time to avoid being eaten!

I've been knitting. The badger one...I've never knitted multicoloured and I didn't realise how complicated it would be. I found a website that converts pictures into knitting patterns.

They are the Hufflepuff badger (I think), a badger and a musical note of some description.

Just need to tidy up the ends and I'll get them off to Woolley Hugs. Hopefully tomorrow.

Those are terrific, @lcakethereforeIam.
Watch @Boiledbeetle doesn’t come to get them. She has form.

ChristmasStars · 08/04/2026 15:06

ifIwerenotanandroid · 08/04/2026 00:47

OK, so I've managed to squeeze a few more people in, though the AI refuses to put a tractor in a blazer. That's Deano in an elderberry-inspired dress, & Edith, you're the knitting woman top left. Everyone else should be obvious.

ETA: Just noticed Marie's gone now. Maye she's changing into her punk persona.

Edited

Great photo!

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